


Tipping Point

by hyacinth (Lexa_Alycia), SerendipitousLyss



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Civil War, Double Agents, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Partners to Lovers, Partnership, Pining, War, in case anyone doubts my refusal to write sad endings lol, maybe a liiittle more brutal than canon but u get the gist, references to abuse/neglect
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:27:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27689621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lexa_Alycia/pseuds/hyacinth, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerendipitousLyss/pseuds/SerendipitousLyss
Summary: Years after Luz destroys the only functional portal to the human realm, Belos is nearing completion of his own doorway. He isn't the only one who's been preparing, however; A civil war four years in the making is approaching its climax with Luz at its head, and the time to act is running out. Together with a ragtag band of friends and allies, she prepares to make her final stand against Belos. It's now or never, do or die. She only hopes they can manage to turn the tides in their favor before it's too late.
Relationships: Amity Blight & Eda Clawthorne, Amity Blight & Edric Blight & Emira Blight, Amity Blight & Lilith Clawthorne, Amity Blight & Luz Noceda, Amity Blight & Luz Noceda & Willow Park & Gus Porter, Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Eda Clawthorne & King & Luz Noceda, Lilith Clawthorne & Luz Noceda
Comments: 9
Kudos: 53





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all! This multichapter project is a collaboration between myself and Lexa_Alycia. The premise is based on their AU and expanded on by both of us, then written by me! The setting is four years after the destruction of the human realm portal at the end of season 1, which means Luz and Amity are ~18 are have been graduated from Hexside for the past year. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! I've had a lot of fun planning and writing this so far.
> 
> As of today I have ~2.5 chapters drafted, two of which are solidly edited, and ~8 chapters outlined with more to come. I anticipate it will likely end up around 10 or more total chapters of varying lengths, though that could still change!

“Catch me if you can, sucker!”

Luz sprints down the crowded streets of Bonesborough, weaving her way through the throngs of market-goers on quick feet. “Sorry! ‘Scuse me!” she says as she forces her way through the thick crowds with a purpose. She clutches her dark brown staff in one hand and a paper glyph in the other, a broad grin on her face as she ducks and weaves past the lines of market stalls and shops.

Behind her, the crowd parts to make way for a woman wearing a white cloak, her own staff in hand. A dark gray mask with a hooked beak adorning it covers the woman’s face, obscuring her identity alongside the cloak’s drawn-up hood. “You can’t run forever, wild witch!” she calls back, keeping pace with the fleeing human girl. She brandishes a staff of her own, which she twirls expertly in one hand. A ball of energy streaks over the heads of the crowd and lands at Luz’s feet, freezing the ground beneath her.

Luz yelps in surprise, feet skidding on the slick ground as she goes sliding straight for a vendor’s open stand. “Incoming!” she shouts, barely managing to keep her footing. She raises her staff with both hands and drives it into the icy dirt before she can run face first into the stand, using the momentum of the movement to vault straight over the top of it. She lands cleanly on both feet and quietly thanks Eda for all the reflex training that had come with learning magic. Once she’s sure she’s regained her footing, she turns her attention to the approaching witch. “Watch where you’re pointing that thing!” she yells. “Someone could’ve been hurt!”

The woman doesn’t answer, but she does pause a few feet from where Luz now stands, staff held at the ready.

Luz sighs. “Never a friendly word from the Emperor’s Coven, huh?” she taunts, leaning nonchalantly on her staff. “Would it kill you to say hello before you attack me?”

“Luz the human, by order of Emperor Belos, you are under arrest for unauthorized use of wild magic and failure to join a Coven,” the masked woman announces. All around the two of them, a crowd has begun to form, murmuring amongst themselves.

Luz watches their gazes flick between herself and the Coven witch, a smirk forming on her face. Yes, this would do nicely. She straightens up, giving her staff a dramatic twirl, and flicks her cape out behind her for good measure. She has to be sure to put on a good performance for the people, after all. “Me? Under arrest? You must have the wrong girl. Just look at this face, does this look like the face of a criminal to you?” She puts on her best innocent face, batting her eyelashes a few times for good measure.

Of course, she knows better than anyone that she really is a criminal, and is in fact guilty of all the aforementioned crimes, but that doesn’t stop her from letting her snark run rampant, just for a moment.

The Coven witch doesn’t seem as amused as the crowd, though, because she immediately levels her staff in Luz’s direction and summons a giant fireball that tears across the clearing toward her.

Deftly, Luz drops to her knees and smacks a piece of paper against the ground. A wall of ice erupts between herself and the witch, which explodes into heavy steam when the fireball collides with it. She straightens up as the haze begins to dissipate. “Careful, there are pedestrians around!” she calls, frowning in concern. “I’m the one you’re after, not them!”

“Quit resisting arrest and come along with us peacefully. No one needs to get hurt,” the witch replies, staff still pointed firmly in Luz’s direction.

Luz scowls. “Fine, you want to play dirty? I can go with that,” she replies darkly. She raises her staff with both hands and sweeps it in a wide arc. From the tip of it, a smokescreen erupts, rapidly filling the clearing with a thick black smog. The chatter of the surrounding pedestrians devolves into coughing and hacking as the crowd and the Coven witch are engulfed in it, but Luz doesn’t have time to make sure they’re alright. She holds her cloak over her mouth and nose to keep the smoke out and makes her escape, retreating into the woods outside town.

She knows that the Coven witch will follow her, but that doesn’t mean she’s ready to be caught just yet. Her bounty isn’t one that is easily overlooked, which means the Emperor’s Coven isn’t the only entity looking to trade her in for the reward. She’s become fairly recognizable to the public since her graduation from Hexside a year ago and her subsequent descent into wild witchery after refusing to join a Coven, so it hadn’t come as much of a surprise when the Emperor’s Coven had shown up in person to apprehend her.

Once she’s certain she’s far enough away from the town, she ducks behind a large tree, taking the time to tug up the hood of her cloak and brush the dust off her clothes.

After a few moments, she hears footsteps nearing her location, crunching leaves softly under their boots. She peeks carefully around the trunk of the tree until she spots the masked witch, then quickly draws her head back with a grin. She has to raise a hand to her mouth to stifle her giggles.

“Come out, Luz, I know you’re here somewhere. We’re far away from town now, you can stop hiding from me,” the witch calls.

Luz bides her time, listening carefully as the footfalls approach her hiding spot. Once she hears them directly behind her tree, she leaps out from her hiding place and sprays a shower of harmless sparks at the woman from the tip of her staff. “Boo!” she exclaims, grinning so widely that the corners of her eyes start to crinkle.

The witch screams in surprise, stumbling back a few paces and nearly falling over entirely, but Luz grabs her by the arm to steady her before she can eat dirt. She immediately bursts out into laughter and has to lean on her staff for support as she doubles over in her mirth.

Still holding onto her arm, the witch lets out a long, irritated groan. “You are  _ so _ obnoxious,” she accuses, reaching up with her hand to push back her hood and remove her mask.

Luz recovers from her laughter long enough to wipe the tears from her eyes and straighten up again, meeting the golden gaze of her pursuant. Mint green hair frames the witch’s face and falls neatly to her shoulders, the top half of it pulled back into a ponytail and revealing slivers of the natural brown roots beneath. “Aw, come on, Amity, you love it,” she teases, reaching out to ruffle Amity’s hair in a way she knows her friend hates.

“I do  _ not _ ,” Amity insists, slapping Luz’s hand away from her head, but she’s fighting a smile of her own as she smoothes her hair back into place. She wrinkles her nose, pausing to sniff a strand of it. “Ugh, Luz, your ‘distraction’ made me smell like smoke! You really couldn’t cast any other spell? Preferably one that doesn’t result in me smelling like a campfire?”

“Nope,” Luz responds with a grin. “We have to make it look convincing, right? That was the most convincing thing I could think of that wouldn’t result in, like, a lot of property damage.”

Amity rolls her eyes, but the shadow of her smile remains. “A simple light spell would have sufficed just fine,” she points out. As she speaks, she starts to walk, taking an easy pace through the trees. “Besides, that was a little too dangerous for my liking. I get that we need to be convincing, but I don’t actually want to hurt you.”

“Me?” Luz scoffs, poking Amity in her shoulder as they two of them walk deeper into the woods. “You’re the one who shot fire at me, thank you very much. And that ice spell? I could have died.”

Amity snickers. “Don’t be dramatic, you were fine,” she assures. “The look on your face when you slipped was pretty funny, though.”

“Mean.”

Luz goes to tuck her staff away behind her back, and as she does, the tiny cat statuette that adorns the very end of it begins to move, its color and features shifting ever so slightly as it blinks its dark eyes open. It walks along the length of the staff as Luz puts it away, hopping onto the human’s hand.

“Hey, Luna,” Luz coos, holding her hand out to her side so the palisman can scurry up her arm and rest on her shoulder. She giggles as Luna rubs her side against Luz’s cheek, letting out a little meow of greeting. Luz scratches the tiny cat’s head with one finger, reveling in the feel of her soft black fur. “Amity, are you going to come back with me to the Owl House?” she asks, casting a glance in her friend’s direction. “I bet Eda and the others would love to say hello!”

Amity smiles at the prospect, but shakes her head. “You know I can’t do that anymore,” she insists, glancing away. Luz swears that she sees a flash of sadness cross her face before disappearing again. “The Emperor is getting more and more anxious every day to get his mystery project running. If he catches me at the Owl House outside of my assigned mission, that’s game over for us.”

Luz sighs, her smile abruptly fading. “I hate having to sneak around in secret like this,” she murmurs. Reaching beneath the folds of her cloak and under the neckline of her shirt, she withdraws a key hung on a chain around her neck: the key that would activate the portal to the human realm from which she’d come. “For four years, this key has been the only thing that’s kept Belos at bay. Eda entrusted it to me, but if he ever gets his hands on it…” she trails off, biting her lower lip in obvious worry.

“Hey,” Amity says softly, reaching out to lay a hand on Luz’s shoulder in a comforting manner, “it’s going to be fine. We’ll figure something out. In the meantime, all you need to do is stay safe and make sure no one else finds out that you have the key until we can find a way to expose Belos and turn things in our favor.”

Luz chuckles softly. In the past, it’s always been Luz who’d brought the optimism to the table, but in recent years the both of them have done a lot of growing, and have inevitably rubbed off on each other. Amity’s realism has taught Luz to be more careful and methodical with her actions, while Luz’s optimism and lightheartedness has taught Amity to improvise and to have fun. “Yeah, you’re right,” she says, tucking the key back inside her shirt where it will stay safe from anyone who tries to take it from her. “In that case, I’ll tell the others you say hello. What will you tell the Emperor when you come back empty-handed?” Glancing in Amity’s direction, she tries her best to keep the concern out of her voice. She’d seen how working for the Emperor and his zero tolerance for failure had pulled Lilith farther and farther into his grasp, and while she knows that Amity will not make the same mistake, she still worries for her friend’s safety.

“I’ll be fine. I’m still just a junior Coven member, so he won’t be too hard on me,” Amity assures. “This isn’t the first scuffle we’ve been in, keep in mind. I have a whole slew of excuses on hand to keep him off my tail.” She smirks confidently, reaching up to brush a stray strand of brown-and-green hair behind her pointed ear. “I’ll make some excuse about fighting in a crowd, and not wanting to endanger pedestrians. I’ll be scolded, but it’s nothing I haven’t heard before.”

Luz nods, sufficiently comforted by Amity’s words, but the worry still tugs at the back of her mind. “I hope we can take care of this soon. I don’t like that you’re putting yourself at risk like this just for the chance of picking up some information,” she sighs.

Amity hums her agreement, glancing away, and Luz notices the telltale pink flush of her cheeks that conveys how secretly pleased she is at being worried over. “Believe me, I don’t like it either, but it’s not forever,” she replies, offering Luz a small, reassuring smile. “Besides, I can handle myself just fine if things go south. I haven’t spent the last year just sitting around since graduating, you know!”

“I know, I know,” Luz laughs, bumping Amity’s shoulder lightly with hers in a playful manner. Luna meows, loud and indignant, at being jostled from her perch.

Amity smiles and halts in her walking, which causes Luz to pause as well. She reaches out to give Luna a scratch behind her ear. “I need to be heading back to the castle, but I’ll keep in touch, okay?” she says. “I can’t stay away for too long while I’m working, or they’ll start to wonder what took me so long.”

Luz nods her agreement, offering Amity a smile in return. “Okay, stay safe,” she replies, and pulls Amity in for a brief but tight hug. “Text me later so I know everything’s fine, okay?”

Amity returns the hug without hesitation. It’s another benefit of their now years-old friendship that Amity has become more comfortable with Luz’s physical affection, and no longer shies away from her touch when she offers it. She takes just a few seconds to revel in this quiet moment before pulling back. She pulls her staff out from behind her back and extends it to her side, and Luna obediently runs along the length of it to affix herself to the end, morphing back into her wooden palisman form. “I’ll see you soon, Amity,” she promises, kicking one leg over the staff in preparation for flight.

“See you soon,” Amity echoes with a small wave. She replaces her mask over her face and tugs up her hood to cover her hair, then pauses just a moment to watch Luz lift off from the ground and start in the direction of the Owl House.

She hovers close to the tops of the trees for the sake of discretion, careful to keep out of sight of the citizens of Bonesborough in the far distance. Although it’s not exactly a secret that she continues to stay at the Owl House, there’s still a chance that someone might follow her, or try to intercept her on her way back to the house, and she’d like to avoid any genuine confrontation with the Emperor and his lackeys, if at all possible.

Luckily, the flight back to the house is peaceful, not an Emperor’s Coven spy to be found. She lands a few dozen feet away from the house’s front door, mindful of the protective wards that shield the house from attack and detection by any unwanted guests hiding out in the surrounding woods. Walking across the threshold of the barrier makes her spine tingle and raises goosebumps along her arms, but she feels immediately safer within its domed wall, and lets her shoulders relax and fall back into their natural posture.

She strolls into the house as if she owns the place, ignoring Hooty’s incessant squawking. “I’m back,” she calls, slipping off her shoes and propping her staff up in the corner by the front door. Across the room, she spots King, passed clean out on Eda’s sofa. She stifles a giggle. It would take an earthquake to wake him at this point, so she foregoes her usual hellos in favor of letting him enjoy his nap.

“Luz!” Eda calls from around the corner in the kitchen, and the stern edge to her voice makes Luz flinch just for a moment.

“Yes, Eda?” she calls back, doing her best to sound as innocent as she can. “What’s up?”

Eda pokes her head around the corner, a disapproving frown on her face. “Don’t play dumb with me, Luz, you’re already on the news,” she says, pointing a finger at the magic ball sitting on the kitchen counter.

Luz rounds the corner sheepishly, glancing at the orb. As Eda had said, her picture is plastered all over it. In the background of the image, a reporter’s voice narrates the aftermath of the scuffle she and Amity had gotten into in the marketplace. She picks out phrases like “minimal damage” and “no casualties” alongside descriptors of herself labeling her as “uncontrolled”, “criminal”, and “wild”, among other, less friendly words. She glances back at Eda, who’s staring at her sternly and waiting for an explanation.

Luz raises her hands in a placating manner. “Eda, I know it looks bad on TV, but I promise, Amity and I know what we’re doing,” she starts. “We planned it all out beforehand. Besides, I trust Amity with this more than anyone else. You know she’d never do anything to hurt me.”

Eda sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and finger. “It’s not about you and Amity, kid, it’s about the two of you going out of your way to antagonize the Emperor!” she says. Stepping forward, she lays her hands on Luz’s shoulders and gives them a gentle squeeze. “I get that you want to make things right after losing the portal, and I support you, but I don’t think you understand the lengths Belos will go to destroy wild magic. I don’t want to see either of you get hurt, or worse.”

Luz offers a reassuring smile, reaching up to lay her own hands over Eda’s. “Don’t worry, Eda, we're being really careful,” she assures. “They’re not going to catch me anytime soon.”

“You telling me not to worry is only gonna make me worry more,” Eda grumbles, but she drops the subject nonetheless. “I trust you kids to do what you think is right, just… be careful, okay? And let me know if you get in over your head. I may not be the witch I used to be, but I can still hold my own if I need to.”

Luz nods her agreement, and Eda, seemingly placated, turns back to stirring her pot. She lets a smile come to her face once Eda has her back turned; despite how Eda tries not to get involved in the growing conflict, Luz finds a great deal of comfort in knowing that her mentor will always be there to back her up if she needs it. Not to mention, the last four years of duel magic training had led to leaps and bounds in both of their magical abilities. Eda had all but mastered paper magic by now, and Luz had grown rather adept at using her new staff, though it’s no replacement for her trademark glyphs. She’s not on the same level as Eda, of course; though they’re on level playing fields in terms of resources, Eda has many years of practical experience over Luz, and the tactical instincts to back up that experience several times over.

Luz hovers behind the kitchen island while Eda returns to whatever concoction she’s brewing up this time. Sometimes it’s hard for her to tell if it’s one of Eda’s potions, or actual food. It doesn’t smell like any food Luz has ever tasted, though, so she decides it’s likely the former. She reminds herself to find something to eat later, once Eda is finished in the kitchen. “I’ll be upstairs if you need me,” she announces, then moves toward the creaky staircase that leads to the room she’s occupied for the past four years.

The room looks very different than it had when she’d first moved into it. Instead of the pile of blankets she’d previously slept on, Luz now has a more permanent bed nestled in one corner of the room beside a small bedside dresser. Stacks of books lay scattered around a cluttered desk on the other side of the room, some taking up floor space while others sit askew on vaguely-organized shelves. Her walls are plastered with magic paraphernalia of all kinds. Profiles of famous witches take up residence next to posters of the Good Witch Azura, and a small collection of magical trinkets have made their home in the sparse empty spaces of her bookshelf. Piles of rolled-up scrolls and stacks of paperwork take up a majority of the desk’s surface, but Luz doesn’t seem to mind as she walks up to it and takes a seat, reaching blindly for a pen from a glass jar she’d taken from Eda’s stash. As she does, the scroll in her pocket vibrates, signaling the arrival of a new message.

Luz pulls it out immediately, letting out a little breath of relief when she sees that it is, indeed, a message from Amity, which simply reads,  _ “All clear.” _ Luz leans back in her chair and crosses her ankles in front of her, watching the message for a minute or so without responding. She counts the seconds in her head, lazily twirling the pen between her fingers, until, at exactly sixty seconds after she’d opened the message, it abruptly disappears. Satisfied, Luz slips the scroll back into her pocket and turns her attention back to her awaiting work.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amity lies to her boss and struggles to parse her family's drama.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 2! Chapters of this fic will be swapping back and forth between Luz and Amity's POV every other chapter, so this chapter will be focusing on Amity. I hope you enjoy!

Amity’s footsteps echo loudly in the huge, empty hallways of the Emperor’s castle, even as she tries to tread as quietly as possible. Her paces match the rapid beating of her heart as her anxiety grows, but she forces herself to keep a calm and collected facade in case anyone should approach her. She carries her mask under one arm, shoulders stubbornly squared and with her hood obstinately lowered to reveal herself to whoever she may encounter. She isn’t trying to hide, by any means, but that doesn’t keep her from hoping that no one will notice her return.

There’s a pressure present in the castle that never ceases to unnerve her. Despite the fact that she’s come here daily for work since joining the Emperor’s Coven more than a year ago, she’s never managed to become comfortable with its oppressive atmosphere. Luckily, her upbringing as a member of the Blight family has prepared her for this very situation, and she does her best not to let the constant sense of scrutiny deter her.

Feeling disheveled, Amity tugs out her ponytail and restlessly brushes the tangles out of her hair with her fingers. Once she’s smoothed down any loose strands, she pauses to take a breath, resecuring her ponytail and reaching for her staff, strapped against her back. The familiar texture of the wood soothes her as she walks, offering a tiny sliver of comfort amongst the eerie, empty halls.

“Amity.”

A familiar, saccharine voice echoes down the hall and reaches Amity’s ears, and she freezes instantly, feeling a shiver crawl up her spine in response. It takes all of her willpower not to hunch up her shoulders and retreat into herself as she turns to greet her approacher. “Mother,” she greets, taking a moment to calm the quiver in her voice.

Odalia Blight has always been intimidating, even to her own children, but somehow the sight of her adorned in the bright white robes of the Emperor’s Coven still manages to make her appear extra intense even after four years in their ranks. Now more than ever, her mother exudes a sense of unrestricted control, more so than Lilith ever had when she had worn the very same robes.

As Odalia approaches, her heeled boots clicking indifferently against the tiled floors of the castle, Amity inclines her head in a small, respectful bow. “What can I do for you?” she asks. The polite words feel heavy on her tongue.

Odalia’s face is frozen in a seemingly endless expression of disinterest, a callous frown turned in Amity’s direction. “It’s not about what you can do for me, sweetheart, it’s about what you can’t,” she responds. Her voice is somehow both civil and hard as steel. Her disdain pierces Amity down to her core. “I’ve heard that you were once again unsuccessful in capturing the Owl Lady’s apprentice. Your failures are beginning to add up.”

Amity can’t help but avert her gaze. It’s as though her body will no longer allow her to look her mother in the eye. “She lured me into the market. There were too many people around, I had to hold back,” she replies. She tries to put as much confidence into her words as she can, but they still come out sounding too meek in response to Odalia’s commanding tone. “It would look bad for the Emperor if an innocent person were to get caught up in the fighting and injured, right?”

Odalia mulls on this for a moment. “You bring up a fair point,” she concedes, and Amity’s nerves settle just a bit. “However,” her mother continues, “this is not the first time you’ve allowed the human girl to back you into a corner like this, and I’m afraid I’m running out of chances to give to you.” She fixes her cold-eyed gaze on Amity, searching for weakness like a predatory stalking its prey. “I recall that the two of you used to be classmates during your time at Hexside, before she decided to embrace her mentor’s savage tendencies. I sincerely hope you’re not letting her bad decisions cloud your judgment.”

Amity feels her temper flare at her mother’s dismissal of her friend, and she has to bite her tongue to keep from retorting. Rather, she channels her anger into maintaining her indifference, steeling her nerve and hardening her expression as she raises her head to meet Odalia’s gaze with renewed defiance. “Of course not. We may have been friends during our school days, but that changed when she chose the path of wild magic,” she responds firmly, but the lies taste like ash on her tongue. She grips her staff tightly and hopes that her mother doesn’t notice how white her knuckles are under the paleness of her skin.

To her relief, Odalia nods her approval. “Very well. I will let it slide this time, but please, darling, try a little harder in the future.” She falls silent for a second, and Amity sees her expression soften ever so slightly. “It hasn’t been so long since you decided to move out of the house. If living on your own is too stressful for you, you can always come back home.”

Amity swallows, taken aback somewhat by the sudden change of tone. She knows better than to believe that her mother would extend such an offer out of the kindness of her heart, but it throws her off-balance nonetheless. “No, I’m doing alright,” she replies, somewhat stunned. “I need to earn my independence eventually anyway, so I figured it would be better sooner rather than later.” It had also put a good deal of distance between her and her parents, distance that was all too valuable when she was keeping so many sensitive secrets.

Odalia gives a small, polite nod. “Very well. I must be going now, but know that the offer stands.”

Amity severely doubts she will ever revisit the possibility, but she has the good sense not to mention it out loud. “Thank you,” she forces herself to say, manners overriding her desire to ignore Odalia entirely.

The two of them turn away from each other simultaneously, footsteps echoing up and down the hall as they part ways, and Amity does not allow herself to breathe until she is safely around the corner and out of sight of her mother. She presses her back against the wall for a brief moment, letting out a long, shuddering breath and willing her heart to stop beating so quickly. Confrontations with Odalia are seldom pleasant, especially since she’d taken over as Belos’s right hand, but every time, the anxiety seems to get worse and worse. Amity can sense that she’s nearing the end of her mother’s good grace; if she and Luz are going to see this plan through, they’ll have to act soon, lest their time run out entirely.

Pursing her lips, Amity pulls her scroll out of her pocket and opens her messaging app. She has Luz’s number memorized by heart, which becomes useful when having her as a contact could lead to them being discovered should someone choose to go through her scroll. They try to talk in person as much as possible to avoid the need to send messages that could be intercepted, but they still use it on occasion to keep each other updated. She fires a quick message to Luz letting her know that she’s alright, then begins to wait, tapping the fingers of her free hand idly on the side of the castle wall. When she sees that Luz has read the message, she begins to count under her breath, promptly deleting the message once she reaches sixty.

It’s a security measure, making sure that a conversation between herself and Luz never runs for long in case someone else might spot it. Luz had called her paranoid when she’d first suggested it, but it brings her some peace of mind to know that their private messages can never be used against them.

Pushing herself up from the wall, Amity leaves the castle through the rear gates, unscrewing her palisman from its interlock as she does. The little rabbit statuette, about the size of her two cupped hands, shifts from its wooden form as she walks, growing tan fur and blinking up at her with dark eyes. “Come on, Otabin. Let’s go home,” she murmurs, cradling the rabbit in her arms.

The walk home is blessedly quiet. She chooses to make the trip on foot this time, where she would normally fly, if only to give herself some time to wander and think for a bit. She must lose herself in thought, because before she can blink, she’s already at her front door. Sighing softly, she strokes the top of Otabin’s head and re-attaches him to her staff, then pulls the key for her apartment out of her pocket.

Before she can unlock the door, however, the distinct sound of voices reaches her ear from through the wall. There’s a clammer of noise that she guesses originates in her kitchen, like pots and pans banging together as someone digs through them. Immediately, she’s on high alert. She’s the only one with a key to her apartment, and she had definitely not anticipated any visitors. Gritting her teeth, she swiftly unlocks the door and pushes it open, staff held at the ready.

She’s preparing to cast a binding spell on whoever has broken into her apartment when a flash of green hair catches her eye, and she realizes that the two people she’d heard talking through the wall are none other than her siblings.

Edric stares back at her with wide eyes, caught with his hands in a pair of crimson oven mitts and in the process of moving a pan from the oven to the stovetop to cool. Literally red-handed, it would seem. “Mittens!” he exclaims, a mischievous smile breaking out on his face. “I was wondering when you’d finally show up.”

Across the kitchen from him, Emira waves as she loads dirty dishes into the dishwasher. “You’re late!” she accuses. “We almost had to eat dinner without you!”

Amity blinks, cautiously lowering her staff from where it still points in Edric’s direction. Then she sighs, loudly, and straightens up from her battle stance. “What are you two doing in my apartment?” she demands, shucking off her cloak to hang it on a hook by the door. “More importantly, how did you even get in? I don’t remember giving you a key.”

“What’s the matter, aren’t you happy to see your favorite siblings?” Edric asks, setting aside his oven mitts to greet Amity properly.

At the same time, Emira pipes up, “We got in through a window. You should really keep those locked.”

Amity shoots Emira a dirty look. “I do keep them locked.”

“Not the one on the second floor! In fact, that one was wide open, just for us,” Emira retorts with a sly grin.

Amity blinks, thinking back to that morning. She’d been in such a hurry to leave for the day, it’s quite possible she could have forgotten to shut her bedroom window. Tucking this revelation away for later, she lets out a loud sigh. “In any case, that doesn’t explain why you’re both here, in my kitchen, using  _ my oven _ .” She turns her glare to Edric as she enters the kitchen.

Unfortunately, her siblings have long ago obtained immunity to her scalding glances, so Edric simply smiles and throws an arm around her shoulders. “Emira said we made dinner, right? It's been a while since we’ve last talked, you know? Especially now that you’re working for the Emperor’s Coven. We have some stuff to catch up on.” He keeps his voice light, but the underlying tone of his words is decidedly serious.

This catches Amity’s attention, and she glances up at Edric with a brow raised inquisitively. “Do we?”

Emira nods enthusiastically. With one hand, she draws a small circle in the air above her head, and Amity’s pantry door opens itself. From inside, stacks of plates and glasses levitate themselves off of the shelves and set themselves on Amity’s small kitchen table, alongside neatly-organized sets of silverware. “Oh, yeah. We were in contact with Skara recently, and she passed on some information to us that you may be interested in hearing.”

“From Skara?” Amity echoes, surprised. Her annoyance with her siblings evaporates immediately, and the moves to take a seat at the table as she awaits the explanation from her siblings.

“Yep. She’s made it pretty far in the Bard Coven, you know. They even transferred her to the castle recently,” Edric interjects, sitting down next to Amity at the table. “We met with her recently, seeing as we’re leading the Illusion Coven now-”

“Well, technically, I’m the leader,” Emira butts in, to her brother’s chagrin. “On paper, at least. Edric does half the work, though. I just lie and say I’m delegating.”

Edric glares sideways at Emira, earning a wide smirk from his sister in response. “Anyway,” he sighs, “The head of her Coven really seems to like her, so he pulled some strings and got her transferred to the castle. She's been working there for a few weeks now, cataloguing the castle’s protected library. There’s all kinds of sensitive documents being held there. She thought that maybe you and your girlfriend could find some use out of them.”

Amity isn’t fourteen anymore. The last several years she’s spent with Luz, growing their friendship and becoming more comfortable together had mellowed out some of her more… nervous tendencies. No more tripping over her own feet, no more devolving into a scarlet, stuttering mess, and definitely a lot less panicking. However, that doesn't stop her from going red in the face at the insinuation that she and Luz are in a relationship. Despite the time that’s passed, her crush is far from faded. “Luz is  _ not _ my girlfriend,” she snaps, but the damage is already done. Both of the twins erupt into laughter at her expense.

“Not  _ yet _ ,” Emira presses with a wink, “but I haven’t given up hope for your love life! Besides, I’m sure if you just tell her-”

“Stop,” Amity interrupts, her head falling into one hand while she holds the other out to her sister to cut her off before she can say anything more embarrassing. “We’ve gone over this before, Em. Now is not the right time, okay? There’s way too much going on for me to be worrying about something as trivial as a crush.”

Edric frowns at this. “You’ve been saying that for years, Mittens. At this rate it’ll never be the right time!” he insists.

Amity groans softly. “Can we not do this right now?” she pleads. “I’m not going to ask Luz out, and I’m not going to be able to get into the Emperor’s  _ personal library _ . Even if Skara managed to get a job working there, there’s no way a junior Coven witch like me is going to get permission to go inside. Only the leader of the Emperor’s Coven and a few others have perpetual permission to enter, and even if I did ask, I’d never convince them that I needed to get inside. I can’t exactly tell the guards that I’m looking for the Emperor’s weakness, you know!”

Emira rolls her eyes. “Well, obviously you wouldn’t say _ that _ ,” she says. “Besides, it’s just a suggestion. If you can find a way in, you might find the weakness you’ve been looking for.”

“Maybe,” Amity relents, “but I don’t like how risky that sounds. I’d need a lot more information before I could even attempt it…” She trails off, her mind drifting to her previous mentor. Lilith had likely had access to this library before her defection from the Coven, but in the four years between then and now, it’s impossible to know if her information is still accurate. “I’ll ask Lilith about it. There’s no way I’m going to get any information out of Mom,” she decides.

Edric and Emira exchange a quick glance, their easy smiles quickly disappearing in favor of concerned frown. “She’s not giving you a hard time, is she?” Emira asks softly.

“Emira and I couldn’t stand to be around her for long,” Edric continues. “We may be leading the Illusion Coven, but we really don’t see her all that often. Still, I don’t like that you’re so close to her now. Em and I worry about you having to deal with her so much now that we’re not around as often.”

Amity glances down at the table with a bitter smile. “Well, you know how she is,” she replies noncommittally. “Obsessed with perfection, no room for mistakes. She’s like that with all the witches in the Emperor’s Coven.”

Emira doesn’t look at all comforted by this statement. She reaches across the table and takes Amity’s hand, prompting her to raise her head to meet her sister’s gaze. “It isn’t about everyone else, it’s about you,” she insists. “We may not be around all the time like we were when we were kids, but you’re still our baby sister. If Mom does  _ anything _ to hurt you or make you scared to go back to the castle, tell us right away. Please.”

Amity rarely sees her siblings so serious, but they’ve always put their foot down when it comes to situations like this. Glancing to her left, she sees that Edric wears an identical expression of worry and determination. Warmth blooms in her chest and she smiles, giving Emira’s hand a squeeze. “I’m okay, I promise,” she assures. “I’ll tell you if anything comes up.”

Satisfied, Emira removes her hand from atop Amity’s and goes back to eating her dinner, so Amity returns to her food as well. She can still feel a bit of the lingering anxiety from her encounter with her mother, but she feels much calmer now despite her siblings’ chaotic energy. It’s like they have a sixth sense that tells them exactly when Amity needs their company most. It’s nice to know that the three of them still have each others’ backs.

She eats her siblings’ food quickly and thanks them for cooking before excusing herself from the table. “I need to make a call, let the others know what you told me,” she explains. “You two can clean up  _ my _ kitchen, since you seem so intent on destroying it.”

Emira shoots her a dirty look for that one, but Edric just smirks. “Fair enough. Have fun talking to your  _ girlfriend _ ,” he retaliates.

Sometimes she really hates how quick he is to stab right at her weak points. She flashes him a seething glare and fights back the blush that comes to her face in response to his teasing, then quickly escapes up the stairs before her siblings can make any more unwanted jabs at her.

She closes the door on Edric and Emira’s obnoxious laughter and lets out a sigh of relief. As much as she loves them, they can definitely be a lot to handle, especially as tired as she is after the day she’s had. If her scuffle with Luz hadn’t been enough, having to deal with her mother head-on hadn’t done anything to make her feel better.

She winces, feeling a fresh shiver of dread go down her spine at the memory of Odalia’s cold eyes piercing into her. Just the thought makes her feel small. Drifting over to her desk, she takes a seat in her chair and leans back, frowning and reaching for her scroll in her pocket. She opens up her list of contacts and goes to tap on Luz’s name, then hesitates. Maybe it’s Edric’s taunts still hanging over her, or maybe it’s the lingering sense of dread that’s followed her since her conversation with her mother, but she can feel herself retreating inward. It’s the lingering desire to isolate until she can figure out what’s going on starting to take hold, a sensation she’s familiar with but still doesn’t quite know how to address. She moves to put her scroll away, but just as she’s about to, the screen lights up and she’s greeted with a picture of Luz’s brightly smiling face as her ringtone echoes through the lonely room.

She almost smiles at Luz’s uncanny sense of timing. She doesn’t hesitate a moment to answer the call. “Hey, Luz,” she murmurs, a tender edge to her voice that she hadn’t intended.

_ “Amity! Wow, that was a quick response,” _ her friend greets her, sounding as boisterous as ever on the other end of the line. In the background, she can vaguely hear Eda and King arguing about something. She takes half a moment to appreciate the homey ambience; the affectionate ribbing and good-natured sass are worlds apart from the tense arguments of her own family growing up, a fact she stows away close to her heart. The argument is likely over something inconsequential, but they somehow manage to make the fighting endearing rather than frightening.  _ “Anyway, I just wanted to check up on you. I got your message but, you know, better safe than sorry.” _

“Yeah, sure,” Amity replies noncommittally. “I was just about to call you, actually. Ed and Em stopped by, and they gave me some information you and the gang will probably want to hear. We should schedule a meeting soon.” As she talks, she fiddles with a strand of her hair with her free hand and does her best not to let her exhaustion weigh down her voice.

Luz goes quiet on the line for a few seconds longer than Amity is expecting, and her faint smile quickly fades. “Luz? You there?” she asks.

_ “Are you okay?” _ Luz asks. Her voice has dropped all of its previous carefree air, replaced by a palpable concern.  _ “You sound… sad.” _

Amity blinks, surprised. Apparently she isn’t as good at hiding her emotions as she’d previously assumed. “I’m-” she starts, and cuts herself off abruptly, feeling a familiar lump forming in her throat. She swallows it down stubbornly, taking a breath.”I’m… okay. Just had a rough run-in with… with my mom.” She doesn’t much like to admit it, despite how Luz knows about how rocky her relationship with her mother is, but she also doesn’t want to lie, especially not when Luz is proving herself to be surprisingly sensitive to changes in her mood like this.

She hears Luz suck in a breath through the receiver.  _ “Did it go okay? I know your mom makes you really nervous. Are you sure you’re okay? Do you need someone to come keep you company?” _ Luz asks, ever the considerate one.

This time, Amity smiles for real. “Thanks, Luz, but I really am okay,” she assures. “Besides, you know as well as I do that you can’t risk coming to my apartment. Someone could see you.”

_ “Don’t care. If you ever need me, you know you can ask, right? Even if it’s dangerous, I’ll always be there to help you.” _

Luz’s voice is so serious and sincere that it nearly brings tears to her eyes, even though she knows that, logically, she won’t be able to take Luz up on her offer, not until they’ve finished what they set out to do. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she relents. “Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

_ “Good. I’ll let the others know you want to meet up. Usual place?” _ Luz says.

“Usual place,” Amity agrees. “Thanks for putting it together. I’ll see you then.”

_ “Okay. Good night, Amity. See you soon.” _

Amity smiles softly. “See you soon,” she echoes, and hangs up the call. Beneath her feet, she can hear the general noisiness of her siblings cleaning up, and she finds the clamor to be oddly soothing despite its cacophony. It makes her apartment feel less empty than it usually does, now that none of her friends are able to come and visit her lest they out themselves as members of their rebellion. Stashing her scroll in her pocket, she makes her way downstairs to help her siblings clean up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or prompts for me, you can find me on tumblr @serendipitouslyss or on twitter @serenlyss.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you have questions or prompts for me, you can find me on tumblr @serendipitouslyss or on twitter @serenlyss.


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